


Parabellum

by silverynight



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, M/M, Oblivious Newt, Overprotective Theseus Scamander, protective grindelwald, vinda is so done with her boss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2020-06-26 03:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19759540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverynight/pseuds/silverynight
Summary: Grindelwald is a dangerous, powerful criminal that flees from Germany and decides to hide in a little village near a forest where also happens to live a very cute zoologist named Newt Scamander.The problems begin when he realizes he likes the quiet life and the company of the zoologist a little bit too much.





	1. Chapter 1

The village where Newt lives is not very popular and because is near the forest not many people choose to stay there permanently. Which has to be the reason why Theseus was not that opposed to the idea of Newt living there.

He can be very overprotective sometimes.

The houses are not next to the other like in the city, but at least close enough to notice when someone new arrives at the neighborhood. Especially when Newt is constantly catching that someone looking at him whenever he gets out the house to walk into the woods.

Perhaps he’s just curious about his four wolves, his other neighbors are too, although they don’t spend so much time staring at Newt’s house, they’re usually afraid of his babies, which is ridiculous because his wolves are harmless, as well as Nancy.

His neighbor meets her one day that lovely brown bear decides to look for Newt instead of just waiting for him in the forest. She growls happily as soon as she sees him, but Newt makes a gesture with his hand and she stops.

Nancy growls excitedly again and Newt is about to caress her muzzle when he hears his neighbor’s door opening.

“Hey, cute redhead… try to move away slowly.”

He turns around, surprised, because it’s the first time he has heard his neighbor talk. His neighbor is a blond man with mismatched eyes and a shotgun.

A shotgun that is pointing at his lovely Nancy. Newt glares at him and instead of doing what he wants he moves in front of her to shield her with his body.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Newt snarls, narrowing his eyes at the man with the gun. Oh, his brother would be absolutely yelling at the moment, he would have an aneurysm just to see him. Which is why he’s never gonna tell him about it, if his neighbor doesn’t shoot him of course.

The man looks a little bit surprised, although he immediately lowers the gun in his hands. He stares at Newt in a way that seems like he’s trying to analyze him. And the zoologist is not really used to be glanced in a such intense way.

“I’m trying to save you, cute redhead.”

“From what?”

“From the beast behind you,” the man rolls his eyes, although he seems amused.

“Nancy is harmless!”

“You named it Nancy? Why am I even surprised?” Now the man is trying very hard not to laugh. “I’ve heard the way you call your wolves! Because those are not dogs, right cutie?”

As if they have been summoned, Patrick, Susan, Linda and George get out of the house and gather around Newt protectively, looking at his neighbor suspiciously.

Finally, his neighbor drops the gun completely and shows his empty hands to Newt, still trying to fight that laughter.

“She was growling, I thought she was going to attack you,” he says, taking one step at a time.

“Nancy was just happy to see me,” Newt explains. “It’s very different from the sound she makes when she’s angry.”

He turns around to stroke her muzzle and she even lies on her back so Newt can sit on the ground next to her.

“She seems to love you, cutie.”

“I have a name,” Newt blushes.

“Well… this is a perfect opportunity to tell me then.”

“I’m Newt Scamander.”

“Gellert Grindelwald and it’s really a pleasure to meet you, Newton,” Gellert winks at him, standing a couple of feet away from Newt’s animals. “Do you think I can get closer?”

“Of course,” Newt reaches out to him and Gellert doesn’t hesitate to take his hand and sit next to him.

“So… you tame wild beasts, Newton? That’s what you do?” He smirks as soon as he sees the frown on Newt’s face.

“I don’t tame them, I earn their trust,” he corrects and the man with mismatched eyes nods. “I’m a zoologist.”

Newt bites his bottom lip, gesture that is immediately noticed by Gellert. He remembers the shotgun and worries… Because so far he likes his new neighbor, but what if…

“Are you a hunter?”

The man chuckles.

“That I am not,” he grins, leaning forward to caress Newt’s cheek. “Besides, I would never hurt you or your creatures.”

“Then what’s the gun for?”

There’s something in Gellert’s eyes, it’s like he’s suddenly tired; there’s an odd glimmer dancing in his look as he answers Newt.

“Protection.”

“Well, you won’t need it! All animals around here are friendly.”

“I wasn’t talking about animals, Newton.”

***

Gellert likes to keep Newt company in the forest and brings his shotgun with him and swears he’s never going to use it on any of Newt’s creatures.

“Then why bring it at all?”

“I’ve told you, there could be hunters or any other people that could get pissed at you for rescuing animals, Newton.”

He tries to argue that there’s usually no one else in that forest, but then thinks that he actually doesn’t know much about him and his reaction could be due to his past. Like Theseus.

“What do you do? Or used to do?”

“I was… a security guard,” but he looks a little bit uncomfortable, so Newt just nods and decides not to keep asking.

Perhaps something happened to him. And Gellert wants to keep it secret for a reason; it could be something painful.

Which is why Newt is not going to mention him at all to Theseus. Last time he told him he had a friend, his brother went crazy because his friend’s uncle was a drug dealer. But Newt’s friend had no idea and Theseus’s interrogation ended up Newt’s friends in the blink of an eye.

This time he’s going to have a friend without letting Theseus dig into his past.

Theseus is a good brother and Newt knows he truly cares about him, but being an MI6 agent could make someone become a little bit paranoid sometimes.


	2. Chapter 2

For a MI6 agent, Theseus can be a real softie sometimes. Although he doesn’t forget the security he has installed in Newt’s house and checks it as he does every time he pays him a visit and only then he jumps at Newt.

He nuzzles Newt’s neck like a needy cat and they both fall on the couch, making the zoologist giggle.

“You’re absolutely ridiculous, Theseus,” he chuckles as his brother snuggles against Newt and starts kissing him all over the face.

“I’m not ridiculous, I can’t be, I’m an agent,” he grins, pulling Newt closer. “And you’re the most important thing in the world to me.”

Newt rolls his eyes.

“Which is why you keep me here, isn’t it?” The zoologist moves away from the couch to try to control George and Linda that are the most excited to greet Theseus. Patrick and Susan just sit there and look at the agent with a little bit of suspicion; they’re still not used to Newt’s brother.

His brother gets a piece of meat from the fridge and throws it at the wolves so he can keep talking to Newt.

“You know I have enemies, Newt… But if you really don’t like this place, I think I can help you move out–”

“You’re lucky I have friends here.”

Theseus narrows his eyes; he gets tense and looks at Newt like he wants to put him behind him, even though no one’s attacking them.

Newt understands, he really does, Theseus has seen so many things in his missions and that time he walked into a country with an ongoing armed conflict it changed him.

Newt would like him to quit his job and stay with him in this paceful place, but Theseus says he has a lot of things to do and that he wants to help make England a safer place for him.

So he understands, but sometimes he gets a little bit…

“What friends? Give me a list so I can check their backgrounds and–”

“I meant the animals, ‘Seus,” Newt sighs, although he purposely forgets to mention Gellert.

“Oh!” Theseus looks relieved. Then he looks at the window, and adds: “Although I still need to check on your neighbors, just in case.”

“Please, 'Seus! Could you… not do that this time?” Newt groans, already thinking about Gellert and how haunted his eyes look sometimes. He’ll run away from there if Theseus starts invading his privacy.

“Fine,” he agrees. “I won’t do that now, but you know I’ll have to do it eventually. It’s for your safety, little one.”

Newt just hopes is not that soon, he has started to enjoy Gellert’s company and he’d like to keep him as a friend.

***

Newton is… something Gellert was not prepared for. He was expecting to get bored in that place while the men that were looking for him in Germany got tired of searching.

But the man surprised Gellert since he got there; he saw a beauty with red curls walk out of his house, followed by four loyal wolves, trotting behind him happily.

He started watching him; he waited for him to get out of the house and go back usually late at night with a huge smile on his face that was too beautiful to be true.

Gellert tried many times to force himself not to look, not to listen to his laughter or the way his voice softened whenever he was talking to his wolves. He tried so many times not to think about him and yet he was getting anxious every time Newton walked into the forest, he started to get desperate to see him again and couldn’t do anything to stop himself from… caring.

Still, he was strong enough not to talk to him, until that damned day that a huge bear approached him. Gellert didn’t hesitate to take one of the weapons he had in the house and aim at the beast, the problem was that Newton was in the way.

And then of course it turned out that Newton was a beautiful madman that treated every single dangerous creature like a lovely kitten. Although part of Gellert was in complete awe at that incredible ability to tame any beast.

He’d be a perfect husband, unintentionally deadly and seductive.

That day Gellert decided to ignore his instincts and surrender himself to Newton’s enthralling nature.

He followed him into the woods and discovered Newton’s passion for animals; Gellert laughed for the first time in years when one of Newton’s wolves threw his owner to the ground and the redhead started giggling happily.

He used to mock the criminals that talked about retirement, but with Newton around, retirement was dangerously tempting.

He wouldn’t go back to an empty house, he’d cuddle in the couch with that beauty, he’d take him to bed to make him scream his name and he’d wake up to his mesmerizing smile.

But he couldn’t, he told himself every day, because he had to go back to Germany or try a new place like America for his… _business_.

He told himself he couldn’t until that idiot of a man came into his territory.

And now Gellert is holding his favourite gun and trying to aim at the intruder’s head. He’s fuming, completely consumed by jealousy because the man hugged Newton, because _his_ Newton is laughing with him and smiling at a man that is not Gellert and he can’t have that.

He’s going crazy; he is not a jealous man, he was never possessive of any of his past lovers.

_Because you never cared about any of them_ says a traitorous voice in his head.

He used to share his lovers with loyal followers, but the thought of sharing Newton is unbearable; it makes him see red.

But he can’t kill the man, not now; it’d break Newton’s heart and even if he could (the police would come to find out what happened) and he doesn’t need that kind of attention.

Besides, it worries him the way the man moves when he’s out of the house, always looking around and keeping himself covered, like he’s been trained to do so.

It could be a coincidence, but Gellert can’t take risks.

With a groan he sits on the floor next to the window; he wants to kill that man so much, but he needs to be… reasonable. He could just be a friend. The fact that he hugs him and looks at him with a stupid, fond smile doesn’t mean he’s Newt’s lover.

Oh, but Gellert needs to find out.

***

Theseus doesn’t usually stay that much. The next day he’s gone and Newt goes back to his usual routine.

But then someone knocks at his door. He beams when sees Gellert at the other side.

“Hi, Newton,” the man grins, hiding something behind his back that is immediately detected by Patrick, well… he’s the first one, because in just minutes the other three wolves are in front of Gellert, excited. “I brought them meat.”

“Oh, thank you,” Newt takes it, goes to the kitchen to cut it into pieces and puts them on their plates. “Please, come inside.”

Gellert sits on the couch and looks around; he seems to notice the alarms.

“You have quite a security system, Newton,” he mumbles.

“Theseus put them there, he’s a little bit paranoid sometimes,” the zoologist chuckles, but notices the tension on Gellert’s shoulders.

“You mean the man that was with you yesterday,” the man says. “I saw the two of you. Is he your… friend?”

“He’s my brother,” Newt smiles and Gellert smiles back almost like he’s… relieved.

“That’s actually… great.”


	3. Chapter 3

Every now and then Newt has to buy some groceries; that’s when he sees more people, although the village is actually a quiet place and most of the time they mind their own business. He takes his bicycle to reach the village centre and go to the first store he finds; he usually doesn’t need too much to survive so most of the time they’re quick trips.

“Sweetie, I’m so glad to see you here. It’s nice to see such a pretty face,” the old woman says, making him blush.

“I’m not p-pretty,” Newt mumbles, trying to focus on the things he needs to buy.

“You’re beautiful,” the old woman chuckles and Newt has started to believe she just does that to make him flustered.

“She’s right,” Newt gets startled by that strong French accent close to him.

Since it’s a very small place, anyone can guess when someone doesn’t belong and that woman is either visiting or she just moved in.

“You’re breathtaking,” she adds, offering her hand. “It’s a pleasure. I’m Vinda Rosier.”

“Newt Scamander,” he says, shaking her hand.

“Perhaps you can help me,” her red lips quirk up into a full grin. “You see… I’ve been looking for a friend, I believe he moved in here a couple of months ago. He has mismatched eyes–”

“That’d be Gellert,” Newt smiles back. “He’s my neighbor.”

Something about that seems to amuse the woman because she chuckles.

“Can you take me there?”

“Of course,” he says, but then looks at his bicycle, although Vinda seems to understand the problem because she talks again.

“Don’t worry, I have a car. Come with me.”

***

Vinda is nice, no wonder why she’s Gellert’s friend, she’s very likable. She also seems very much interested in what Newt does.

“So he tried to save you from a bear,” she comments, completely shocked for some reason.

“There was no need, Nancy is so sweet, she’d never hurt me.”

“Boy, you’re absolutely crazy; I like you.”

When they arrive to Newt’s house, Gellert is already outside, playing with his wolves; they’ve grown very fond of him.

“Are those… Why is he–”

But Newt gets out of the car before she can finish and waves his hand at Gellert, the man smiles, just for a second, because the moment he sees Vinda he almost… panics.

He’s with Newt in the blink of an eye, taking his face in his hands, eyes roaming all over his body desperately.

“Are you okay?”

“What? Yes, I'm–”

“You don’t have any wound, do you?” Gellert insists, confusing Newt even more.

“No, why would I?”

The man sighs, presses their foreheads together and looks at him, relieved.

“It’s nothing… I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

“It’s okay,” Newt assures him, smiling kindly. It has to be because of his past job, something must have happened to him. “Don’t worry.”

He gets a little bit distracted by his babies that prefer not to approach Vinda (it’s not that easy for them to trust someone new) and he doesn’t notice the way Gellert moves in between Newt and the woman like he’s trying to shield him.

He doesn’t notice, but she does.

“Oh, sorry!” Newt mumbles, realizes he’s ignoring them. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Oh, actually, we have to–”

“That’d be lovely, thank you,” Vinda grins, purposely ignoring the glare Gellert is directing at her.

***

“Where did you meet?” Newt smilies, petting Patrick that’s curled up next to him on the couch; Gellert is sitting at the other side. They’re both facing Vinda who seems to be enjoying herself.

“At work,” Gellert responds immediately, looking a little tense.

“So do you work as a security guard too, Vinda?”

She looks at Gellert and then at him before nodding.

“I was… He’s my superior,” she says, looking a little bit uncomfortable out of the sudden.

“But I thought he retired?” Newt tilts his head in confusion and Vinda looks at Gellert like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“Retired?”

“Yes, I did, Newton,” he says, caressing the zoologist’s cheek with the back of his hand. “She’s just confused.”

Vinda doesn’t seem to like the idea though, so Newt decides to talk about something else.

“Would you like some cookies?”

“Actually, Newton, we have to go,” Gellert says. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“Sure. It was a pleasure to meet you, Vinda!”

“I hope to see you soon, beautiful.”

***

Gellert is fuming by the time they’re both inside his house and she knows it.

“He cannot know,” he growls, glaring at her. Rosier shivers a little bit, but has been with him for a long time to know when she’s in danger.

And she’s not.

“Because he’d hate you?”

It hurts. Gellert doesn’t want to admit how much, but it does, the thought of Newton hating him is just too much to handle at the moment.

“Yes,” he says, breathless.

“You can’t have a weakness,” she narrows her eyes. “You have enemies, the police could use him, too.”

“I will protect him,” Gellert promises.

He swears. Newton will be safe and happy.

Vinda looks at him, less irritated.

“You have never looked at someone the way you look at him.”

“I know,” Gellert says in a whisper, almost like he’s afraid of saying it out loud.

Vinda sighs, takes a chair and sits on it.

“They’re still looking for you, policemen and some our _friends_ ,” she hisses the last word. “They want our territory because someone started the rumor that you’re dead.”

“Which is good if said rumor reaches the police and they believe it,” Gellert grins.

“It’s not good if they’re planning on stealing our clients, I haven’t been assigned anyone to kill in a month,” she protests.

“Killing drug dealers is not our main objective, Rosier,” he scolds her. “We need to control the country so we can change things.”

“I know, but it’s not going to work if everyone thinks you’re dead,” she argues, although she seems a little bit worried. “When will you be coming back?”

Gellert looks through the window and Rosier notices the reddish hair and hears that sweet laughter.

Newt’s coming back from the forest.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re not seriously thinking about retirement, are you?”

“Of course not,” he says, but Rosier knows he’s not sure.

Rosier puts on her coat and walks towards the door; Newt has returned to his house minutes ago, but his presence is almost luminous, it’s like he’s still outside, making everything brighter.

“Be careful, if I could find you, other people can as well,” she says.

“Try to make sure no one does, Rosier.”

“You know that would only work for a couple of months, right?”

“Do it anyway,” Gellert is still looking at the spot where Newt was playing with his wolves.

“You’re going to get your heart broken,” she mumbles before walking away.


	4. Chapter 4

Newt is still with Patrick, because he hurt himself while they were visiting Nancy and because he’s still too focused on him, he doesn’t hear someone knocking at the door the first time.

Actually, Newt is upset; Patrick had a cut on his paw because of a trap a hunter left in the forest. Usually when he finds one of those, he keeps looking and removes the ones he can find. But Patrick needed his help and he had to go back home earlier.

But he still worries about Nancy, there could be a beard trap close to where she catches her fish.

The second knock distracts him a little bit from his own hurtful thoughts and he instructs the other wolves to keep an eye on Patrick.

When he opens the door he sees Gellert with a couple of bags in his hands. He looks a little bit… flustered.

“I was at the store and I–I decided to buy a little bit of food for you and your wolves. Of course if you don’t want to–”

“It’s great, thank you, Gellert,” Newt says, trying to smile, but the man notices that something’s going on and then, he finally sees the wolf lying on the floor with the others around him.

“What happened to Patrick?”

Trying not to tear up, Newt explains everything while the both of them clean up Patrick’s wound and bandage it.

“You’re worried there could be more of those?”

“There’s always more. Some people just don’t care about animals at all.”

Gellert looks at him for a couple of seconds, before taking him in his arms and kissing him on his curls. Newt’s cheeks turn completely red at that.

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” Gellert promises, smiling kindly at him.

“You don’t have to.”

“But I want to, I’ll be right back.”

***

Perhaps it’s time to admit that he likes Newton more than he should, that he should consider the possibility of being in love. Which, of course, it represents a huge problem considering who he really is.

And now that he has admitted that, he needs to start making plans; there has to be a couple of those in case one of them or the majority fail.

Now, the first thing he’s going to do is to start wooing Newton; Gellert needs him to fall for him before he finds out about what he does, because even though he’ll do anything for Newton to remain oblivious to his real “job” he knows it’s just a matter of time before he finds out.

Newton needs to love him so he can forgive him… so he doesn’t leave him.

Gellert will stay in that place as much as he can and once it’s time for him to leave he’ll take Newton and his four wolves with him.

Because Gellert can’t just live without that cute zoologist anymore.

He has a plan that he should follow to the very end if he doesn’t want to screw up at some point. But Gellert has discovered in the last few weeks that love makes any person think less than they should.

Because after getting rid of all the traps he finds in his way, Gellert decides to look for the hunter responsible; Newt believes he lives in a cabin close to the river.

And he’s right, Gellert gets inside the house and finds out a disgusting collection of skin, horns and heads of dozens animals staring at him from the walls that would most likely make his beautiful Newton cry.

He can’t let that happen, can he?

“The fuck you think you’re doing in my house you piece of shit?” The man spits, looking at him with fierceness in his eyes; he probably thinks just because he’s carrying a gun he’s safe.

He can’t believe how naive some people are sometimes.

Although Gellert tries the first time, he warns the man before doing anything because he knows his death will probably lead to trouble.

“You’re gonna stop hunting animals,” he orders and, as expected, the man laughs at his face, touching his gun.

“Did that animal lover send you?” He grins. “Well, tell him next time I see his pretty face in my territory–”

He doesn’t finish the sentence, Gellert makes sure of it.

“I need you to get rid of a body,” he calls Rosier, he can almost see her rolling her eyes.

“What did they do? Did they flirt with your boyfriend?”

“He made him cry,” Gellert tells her and hears her groaning in frustration.

“You cannot kill people near the place you’re living!” She huffs, like he doesn’t know the rules. “That’d only attract attention, which is something we don’t want at the moment.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s going to take a while before someone starts asking for this one.”

***

Newt is waiting for him, he beams at him as soon as he lets him inside his house and gives him a kiss on the cheek that makes Gellert’s face turn slightly pink.

“Thank you, Gellert,” he says. “I was worried about Nancy.”

The man smiles, takes him in his arms and brings their foreheads together.

“I’ll always be here for you, Liebling.”

Newt chuckles.

“What does that mean?”

“Perhaps I’ll tell you later,” Gellert smirks mischievously.

“It’s not an insult, is it?”

“Not at all.”

“Alright then,” Newt says and then takes him by the hand to lead him to the kitchen. “Would stay for dinner?”

“Of course, Liebling.”


	5. Chapter 5

Danielle doesn’t ask questions, not that many anyway; she knows there’s a reason why her boss is so interested in that particular place and she also knows there’s a reason why he has chosen not to tell her.

Taking a deep breath, she knocks at his office’s door and after hearing him shouting a “come in,” she walks in with a couple of files in her hand and a USB.

“Oh, Mason!” Theseus smiles. “What did you get for me this time?”

The woman hands him the reports on all the people she has found out living in that specific zone of the village. It’s so weird that the area selected is around that particular house, it says it’s abandoned, but the people Danielle spoke with always mention a man that’s not on her list.

“Does anyone else have this information?” Theseus narrows his eyes at her, looking with satisfaction as she shakes her head.

“No, just us.”

“Well… Tell me, did you find something interesting?”

“A man recently moved in the neighborhood,” she mumbles, pointing at the photos she managed to get. “He offered to pay his landlord double if he didn’t have to sign any papers…”

Theseus huffs and honestly Danielle agrees with him this time, people would do anything for money, even let a complete stranger into their lives.

“Most of the people know him as Gellert, but none of them know his last name. I checked anyway and we don’t have any Gellert on our database. They say he’s from another country.”

Her boss is growing tense, but she can tell he’s doing his best to control himself.

“He’s often seen with a beautiful man, well at least that’s how the lady of the store described him. I think he doesn’t appear registered either, but they have told me he’s tall, reddish hair and green eyes. I think he’s a zoologist; some people believe the two of them are in a relationship.”

Theseus breaks the pencil he has in his hand, startling Danielle for a moment. He almost jumps from his seat.

“I’ll be gone for a couple of days, Mason,” he almost growls, storming out of the office, leaving the agent a little bit confused.

***

Gellert watches with a ridiculous smile on his face as Newton falls asleep over his shoulder; he’s had a long day, taking care of his wolves and paying a visit to Nancy so Gellert is not at all surprised.

Gellert moves on the couch and helps him to put his head over his lap and he just enjoys looking down at him while the man sleeps; he strokes his curls gently, trying for once to forget about what Newton would do if he knew everything Gellert did in the past.

“Please, stay with me, Liebling,” he mumbles, tracing his cheeks, feeling ridiculously happy to be able to do that.

He’d like for that moment to last, at least enough for him to have an idea in his head what it’d be to live a nice, quiet life with that beautiful man.

Perhaps Gellert just needs to ask him out already. Take him out of town to have an expensive dinner with him, because Newton Scamander deserves the best.

He’s not that lucky though, he realizes that as the moment gets interrupted by a shadow outside Newton’s house that makes him grow tense. He leaves the zoologist on the couch and realizes the wolves are looking at the door; he takes out his gun, but relaxes a little bit when he sees Rosier at the other side.

She looks worried.

“What are you doing back here so soon?” He asks, but that only makes her narrow her eyes even more.

“I need to talk with you.”

Gellert puts a blanket over Newton before getting out of the house and getting back to his with Rosier.

“You’re in love,” she blurts out and of course it’s not a question.

“You said you wanted to talk with me,” he reminds her, because he doesn’t want to say anything about how he feels about Newton at the moment.

Rosier sighs, looking around, just like she used to do every time she thought there were cops around or someone was watching.

“Your boyfriend’s brother is MI6.”

“Well…” He says after a while. “That makes a lot of sense actually. He moves like someone that has received training.”

“Is that the only thing you’re gonna say?” Rosier huffs, looking she wants nothing more than to pull her hair out of frustration.

Gellert doesn’t blame her.

“What do you want me to say, Rosier?”

“You’re gonna leave this place, right? Because it’s just a matter of time before he finds out about you.”

She’s right, but it’s like Gellert’s whole body is against the idea.

“They don’t have any information on me. No criminal records in England or America. Not even the German police associates my name with those crimes.”

“They’re almost there, that’s why you left, remember? They have your description, haven’t they?” Rosier insists like she’s talking to a stubborn child.

“I’m not going to leave Newton, not until I have to,” Gellert admits and he knows that’s something huge coming from someone like him, because he’s risking so many things by just doing that.

But he’s sure Newton’s brother doesn’t know who he really is yet so Gellert is ready to have a chat with that man.

“Take him with you then,” Rosier mumbles when she realizes there’s nothing she can do to change his mind.

He can do that, because he’s not willing to live without Newton if he can help it, but he needs to prepare Newton for that.

“Go get me more information on his brother.”

Rosier rolls her eyes, but nods anyway.

***

Newt chuckles when his babies gather in front of the door as soon as they hear the footsteps coming; Linda looks like she’s ready to jump on his brother (it has to be him, she only reacts like that when he’s in the house) and George sits excitedly while Susan and Patrick return to Newt’s side just to make sure everything is fine. Although they don’t look as alert as they did last time, maybe they’ve finally accepted his brother.

Although this time is different, this time Theseus doesn’t stop to greet the two excited wolves at the door, no, he just takes Newt in his arms and his eyes roam all over his body like he’s looking for some kind of wound or injury.

Newt sighs, takes his brother face in his hands and looks at him in eye.

“Okay, tell me what happened.”

Then, it seems the agent inside him is completely gone as Theseus pouts.

“You’re gonna be mad at me, but… I need to meet your new neighbor.”

Well, it seems his brother is right that time as Newt narrows his eyes at him and takes a step back; Theseus almost whines.

“I told you I didn’t want you to spy on my neighbors!” Newt crosses his arms over his chest.

“How else am I supposed to protect you?”

“Maybe you should stop doing that,” Newt says. “I can take care of myself.”

Theseus takes him in his arms and starts nuzzling his neck. After a while, Newt finally gives in.

“We have nothing on that neighbor of yours.”

“Maybe because he did nothing wrong…”

“He pays to his landlord in cash; he refuses to sign a rental agreement.”

“Maybe he just wants privacy,” Newt mumbles. “Not everyone has to be a criminal, ‘Seus!”

“I just want to meet him.”

Newt rolls his eyes; he knows his brother won’t let him alone unless he talks to him.

“Fine, but please be kind.”

“I can’t promise anything.”

Newt knows it’s a bad idea, he just knows.


	6. Chapter 6

“We need to stablish some rules first,” Newt crosses his arms over his chest. He’s not going to let Theseus scare his friend off like he has done in the past.

“Rules?” His brother looks at him with confusion.

“You are not going to interrogate Gellert,” Newt warns.

“I can’t pro–”

“No, you have to promise, ‘Seus,” the zoologist cuts him off, surprising him again.

“But… little one. I just want to protect you,” Theseus pouts, trying to take Newt in his arms again, but his brother moves out of the way just in time.

“He’s my friend,” Newt mumbles, to Theseus’s irritation.

“Fine,” he sighs. “I’ll just talk to him… I only want to get to know him.”

Newt leaves his brother back in his house with his babies while he goes to Gellert’s to invite him over dinner. He feels nervous; he knows Theseus always does his best to keep a promise, but he also knows that sometimes he turns into an overprotective brother and there’s nothing that can stop him.

But Newt likes Gellert and he’d feel completely sad if he stops talking to him because of his brother.

He’s so focused on his own thoughts he forgets he just knocked at the door and gets startled when Gellert opens it.

“Hello, Newton,” the man grins from ear to ear. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

His eyes are so intense, Newt gets flustered and it doesn’t help that Gellert decides to lean forward in that moment and caress his cheek.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Liebling.”

Newt still has no idea what that word means, but it seems like Gellert likes to say it quite often. He’d ask, but he figures that is not the time to ask that kind of questions.

The zoologist clears his throat.

“My brother is here,” he mumbles. “He wants to meet you… So… I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with us?”

“I’d love to,” Gellert purrs, kissing Newt’s hand.

***

Newt has to make dinner, but he doesn’t want to leave the two of them alone, especially because Theseus is constantly narrowing his eyes at Gellert.

His friend doesn’t seem to mind though.

“Why did you decide to come here of all places?” Theseus asks, at least he sounds more like a concerned brother than a MI6 agent.

“I wanted to live in a quiet neighborhood,” Gellert says and then looks at Newt, who’s walking in the living room, with a very fond expression. “Although helping your brother with his creatures hasn’t been exactly a quiet experience, but I like it.”

“I see,” honestly Newt has no idea what Theseus _sees_ , but it’s not something good, judging by the way he grimaces when he says that. “So… your life before wasn’t exactly quiet, was it?”

Gellert smiles, but Newt can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Dinner is ready!” He says, hoping Theseus forgets about the question or at least remembers what he promised Newt.

The zoologist decides to talk about Nancy to his brother’s frustration. Gellert looks interested, although for some reason the man is always interested in whatever Newt has to say.

Newt gets startled when he hears Theseus’s cursing; he rises from his seat and leaves the room to answer his phone.

Gellert looks like he wants to tell Newt something, but he gets interrupted when Theseus comes back.

“I have to go, little one,” he caresses Newt’s cheek. “It’s about work. I wish I could…”

But he stops and glares at Gellert.

“If you don’t mind, Mr. Grindelwald…”

“You want me to go,” Gellert nods, rising from his seat.

“No, you don’t have to!”

“It’s okay, Newton. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I don’t like him,” Theseus mumbles, as soon as they hear the door getting shut.

“You don’t like anyone,” Newt narrows his eyes.

“No, you don’t understand, little one… There’s something about him–”

“He’s my friend, 'Seus!” Newt cuts him off. “And I like him! My wolves like him!”

“That doesn’t mean he’s a good person.”

“It doesn’t mean he’s a bad one either,” the redhead says.

“I’ll try to find out more–”

“Please leave him alone. I can take care of myself.”

Theseus tries to kiss him on the top of his head like he often does, but Newt moves out of the way, still narrowing his eyes.

His brother makes a heartbreaking expression, but Newt can’t give in this time; he doesn’t want Theseus to scare him away.

Because he likes Gellert, perhaps more than he should.

“I’ll be back soon, little one,” he whispers, looking like a kicked puppy when he gets out of the house.

***

The next morning Newt starts wondering if he should go to Gellert’s house and apologize for his brother’s behavior.

But there’s a knock at the door and Newt can’t help but grin when he sees Gellert at the other side.

Although the man looks like he hasn’t slept at all and Newt’s smile disappears immediately.

“I’m sorry, Liebling,” he mumbles and Newt’s about to ask what’s going on when Gellert leans forward to kiss him on the lips.

Newt’s heart is beating happily inside his chest and the zoologist doesn’t hesitate to put his arms around Gellert’s neck to pull him closer.

He kisses back, enjoying the man’s hungry lips over his.

“I want to take you out to dinner,” Gellert whispers over Newt’s pink lips. “As in a date, darling. What do you think?”

Newt blushes to the tip of his ears when Gellert gives him a quick peck on the neck.

“I’d love to,” the zoologist smiles, trying not to think too much about his brother.

He wouldn’t be happy about it, although he doesn’t have to know, right? At least not at the moment.

***

It’s not like Newt has never been in a fancy restaurant (Theseus likes to take him to all sort of different places) no, the problem is that it’s been a long time since he’s been on a date.

Gellert makes him feel comfortable though, he still talks to him like nothing has changed, the only difference is that now he leans over the table to kiss Newt on the lips and keeps telling him how beautiful he is.

Newt is not sure about that though, he’s never considered himself pretty, but he definitely likes the kisses. He wants more of that.

“I’ve been thinking…” Gellert takes Newt’s hand and intertwines their fingers together. “I want to take you to Paris one day, what do you say? It’ll be just for a couple of weeks and we’ll bring your babies with us.”

Newt has never told him, but he likes when Gellert refers to his wolves as his babies.

“But Nancy…”

“We’ll be back soon,” Gellert insists; for a second Newt thinks he sees desperation in his mismatched eyes, but it has to be just his imagination. “We can also see other parts of France while we’re there to see the wildlife…”

Newt can’t help it, his heart beats with excitement and he almost beams at Gellert.

“When we’d leave?”

“Not so soon, no, my darling. I just wanted to know if you’d like to go to start making plans,” Gellert smiles. “I’d let you know, of course. I’m just waiting for… the perfect time.”

“I want to go…” Newt mumbles. “I’ll go with you.”

Gellert pulls him closer and starts kissing him desperately, possessively; he doesn’t seem to mind they’re not the only ones in the restaurant.

Newt giggles happily over the man’s lips, prompting the other to grin and touch his face gently, lovingly.

“You’re the best thing that could’ve happened to me, Liebling.”


	7. Chapter 7

It's been a long time since Gellert has felt panic, real panic; he has gotten used to his life as it is and there was nothing that he cared about enough to be afraid of losing.

But now there is... _someone_ and he understands why Vinda was so angry with him the first time she met Newton Scamander. Love makes people vulnerable.

He knows someone is going to find him sooner or later and he tells himself he is prepared, but when he sees the woman with the brownish hair and the man that walks closely next to her the only thing Gellert can think of is Newton.

His Newton.

He looks around before letting them inside his house; he knows there are more, at least two more, probably walking in the woods or close to the zoologist's house.

Gellert wants to kill them already.

But he can't, it wouldn't be wise; they don't seem like a threat... yet, perhaps he can solve this with a polite conversation.

"Boss is going to be happy I found you," the woman smirks, she's clearly the leader of the group which makes things a lot easier for Gellert actually. "Everyone thinks you're dead."

It's late, Newton is probably asleep already, but Gellert doesn't know what are the intentions of the other people that have come with her.

"Well... here I am," he smiles, trying not to show how worried he is. Gellert needs to see Newton, he needs to make sure he's okay.

"My boss wants to offer you help," she says and Gellert already knows is not that simple, her boss probably wants something in return, but he can't think about that at the moment.

"If this is in fact a friendly visit, then call your men," Gellert says. "The ones that are outside."

"They're just making sure everything is–"

"Call them right now," Gellert almost growls and the woman flinches away, afraid; she doesn't take out her gun because she probably knows already Gellert is faster than her.

Instead she nods a makes a gesture to the man next to her; he goes out and comes back with another woman and a tall man.

"That's it? There's no more outside? And please think about your words before you answer me because if you lie to me I'll kill you all."

She turns pale, but doesn't move from her seat that time.

"It's just four of us."

Gellert nods, still thinking about Newton, he has realized that's almost impossible not to think about him.

"What does your boss want?"

"He's offering you protection in case you need it," she mumbles, a little bit nervous.

"Tell him I'll think about it."

"But I–"

"Goodnight," he walks towards the door and opens it for them; one of the men look a little bit angry at that but doesn't do anything about it. "And don't even think about having fun in my neighborhood. This is my territory now."

She nods again and the four of them disappear in the night.

Now, Gellert is not an idiot, he knows they'll probably look around for a couple of hours before going away. They need to report to their boss and make sure there's no one else from Gellert's group out there.

He has to wait next to the window all that time, almost dying inside, waiting to make sure Newton's okay.

Now the smart thing would be to wait to the next that to do that, in case someone stays to keep an eye on him; so they don't know Gellert's neighbor is more than just a neighbor to him.

But he can't wait, he can't.

Love is full of mistakes anyway.

***

Patrick is the first to wake up, he does even before the first knock. Linda, Susan and George follow him right behind, but none of them seem to sense danger, in fact when Newt finally gets out of the bed, they all are waggling their tails excitedly.

Although it's still weird to open the door and find Gellert at the other side of it, it's almost midnight.

"Newton," there's such a relieved expression on Gellert's face that confuses the zoologist; he moves to the side to let him in, but the first thing the man does instead of sitting on the couch is to take Newt's face in his hands. "You're okay."

"Yes, I am," Newt mumbles. "Did something happen? Why are you–"

"I had a nightmare," Gellert blurts out and leans to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

Newt shakes his head.

"You don't need to apologize," Newt assures; he hugs Gellert and hears as the man sighs.

"This is going to sound weird, but can I stay here tonight?"

"Of course! I have a spare room my brother always uses when he stays here," Newt smiles; he knows something happened to Gellert, but he's willing to wait until he's comfortable enough to tell him.

The man grins back, in his mismatched eyes there's such an intense emotion; Newt blushes to the tip of his ears when he sees it.

"Goodnight, Liebling," he mumbles fondly, giving the zoologist a kiss on the cheek.

***

Newt wakes up to the smell of pancakes and when he walks into the kitchen, he realizes his wolves are already eating. Gellert turns around, looking a little bit shy.

"I hope you don't mind," he mumbles and Newt smiles at him.

When he sits at the counter Gellert hands him orange juice and a plate with pancakes.

"Thank you, I think I'll invite you to stay over more often," Newt giggles and Gellert gives him a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"I'm counting on it, Liebling," the man winks at him and Newt has to look at his plate because he feels like his cheeks are burning. "Actually... I'm more interested in discussing our trip. What do you say if we go tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Newt blinks a couple of times. It's... rushed.

"Of course, if you don't want to that's fine..."

"No, it's okay, tomorrow is fine," he'll need to get some stuff ready, but he can handle it, besides, they're coming back soon.

"Great," the man smiles, hopeful. He seems really excited about the trip and Newt is glad Gellert will have something to distract himself. "You'll be fine, I promise."

Perhaps it's just Newt's imagination because those last words were mumbled like Gellert was actually talking to himself.

***

"I got you the tickets," Gellert hears Rosier say as soon as he picks up the phone. "I also have the guns and other things prepared, in case you need them. I'll leave them in your garage tonight."

The man sighs, looking through the window as Newton is talking with his wolves excitedly. He's feeling much better now that they're getting away from that place. It's not safe anymore.

"How did you convince him?" she chuckles. "You must be really good in bed for him to just drop everything and accept to be a crime lord's boyfriend. Well, I'm sure you'll get him to be your husband eventually."

Gellert grimaces, although of course Rosier can't see that.

"He thinks we're going on vacation," he mumbles. "Newton doesn't know yet."

Rosier curses in French and honestly Gellert doesn't blame her; Newton not knowing what is really going on is a serious problem.

"Are you out of your mind?" She blurts out and then she remembers he's actually her boss and adds, trying to calm herself down: "You have to tell him."

"I will, but not now."

"His brother will notice."

"I know," Gellert sighs; the best thing he can do is to leave him, but he refuses to do it. He doesn't want to live without Newton. "I'll deal with that too."

He knows it's a mistake.


	8. Chapter 8

"I think my wolves are nervous," Newt mumbles, but he knows the only one nervous is himself. Even though that's probably the only way for them to be in the plane, he doesn't like the idea of being away from them.

"They'll be fine, Newton," Gellert kisses the back of his hand and the zoologist immediately feels better. "Actually... I must confess I'm a bit nervous too. This is the first time I do this with someone that matters, I'm usually... alone."

Newt blushes and smiles back at him shyly, he has the feeling that's a huge confession coming from someone like Gellert.

"I'm glad you decided to invite me," he admits; Gellert has become someone really important in Newt's life and he has started to think that he should tell Theseus... But not right now, because his brother will have him investigated for sure and he doesn't want that kind of problems at the moment.

Gellert sighs and for a moment Newt can see he's worried, almost anxious about something... He leans closer to Newt and takes his face with both hands before saying: "I'd do anything for you, Liebling. I hope you remember that. I love you."

It's perfectly normal to be nervous before saying big words like that so Newt understands what Gellert is feeling, however he doesn't know if he's ready to say "I love you" back.

"I think I could see myself falling for you," he mumbles instead hoping not to hurt Gellert's feelings, but the man stares at him with such a huge smile on his face, Newt knows he hasn't screwed everything... yet.

Then Gellert starts kissing him in a way that makes Newt moan, then he pulls him away when he remembers they're definitely not alone.

Newt blushes and the man chuckles before pressing his lips against the zoologist's cheek this time.

***

Newt feels so much better when they're in the streets of Paris and he has his babies with him; they're all excited, following them around and causing a few people to look back at them with curiosity.

It seems Gellert doesn't like to be looked at, because he takes Newt's hand and tries to ignore the people around them.

"It's great!" Newt says as soon as they walk in the house. "How did you get a place like this for us?"

"Rosier helped me," he answers, before running upstairs; he still looks a little bit anxious so Newt decides to leave him alone while he feeds his wolves.

Susan is the first one to jump over the couch and Newt rolls his eyes at her, trying not to chuckle. He wonders if Gellert would be upset if he lets them do that.

However, when he comes back he looks like he doesn't care about that and instead walks directly towards Newt and kisses him on the cheek. He looks more relaxed now.

"Let's go have dinner, Liebling."

Even though the city looks absolutely beautiful that night, they decide to wait until the next day to start exploring it, besides, Newt would like to take his wolves too.

They stay in different bedrooms, although Newt spends part of the night rolling on his bed, thinking about his current situation. He knows, by the way Gellert kisses him every time he has the chance, that he'd like to sleep with Newt, but the zoologist knows he'd probably wait until he's ready.

Now Newt needs to ask himself if he's ready or not for that.

It takes him just an hour to get off the bed and walk into Gellert's bedroom feeling like a mess. He takes a deep breath, lies next to the man and watches as he opens his mismatched eyes.

Newt blushes as he feels a hand on his waist, pulling him closer.

"Are you sure, darling?" Gellert asks kindly, stroking Newt's face gently. "I'll wait as long as you need, alright?"

"I'm sure," Newt mumbles and shivers when Gellert gives him a possessive, desperate kiss.

***

Newt wakes up feeling tired; his body is aching, but in a good way. Gellert chuckles behind him and the redhead realizes he's been awake for a while, just looking at him and pressing his lips against Newt's shoulders and neck.

"I'll make us breakfast, Liebling," Gellert mumbles, stroking Newt's inner thigh slowly, prompting the zoologist to giggle. "I'd like to stay in bed all day, but we have to explore Paris today."

"We have to take the wolves with us," Newt reminds him and feels his heart beating fondly as Gellert speaks again.

"Oh, yes... our babies. I bet they're excited too."

And right then Newt feels absolutely grateful to have met Gellert Grindelwald; he's never been that happy before.

***

The problem is that Danielle doesn't have context; she doesn't know almost anything about this issue so she can't tell if the news she has for her boss are good or bad.

Something's clearly wrong, she'd like for Theseus to trust her more, but surely just asking for information won't help her at all.

"What do you have for me this time?" Her boss looks up from his desk as soon as he hears her walking inside.

"He's.... Gellert is gone. I mean he seems to have left, although the people from the village think he's just on vacation, the landlord is almost sure he's not coming back," she mumbles and watches as Theseus relaxes after listening to her. Turns out they are good news after all.

"Great. Well done, Mason," he smiles and the young agent feels so proud of herself. "Anything else? Because I have to make a call–"

"Some say he's not traveling alone... They say he took his boyfriend with him. That's why they think he's only on vacation because the zoologist is... Sir?"

Theseus is completely pale now; Danielle has never seen her boss like that... Well, except maybe that day. She's almost sure it has to do with the zoologist, although she's not sure why.

The only thing she knows is that the man called Gellert is in trouble.


	9. Chapter 9

Newt spends a whole day walking around the streets of Paris, holding Gellert's hand with his wolves trotting behind them, making some people to look at them with curiosity.

Some of them ask about the creatures (most of them believe when Gellert tells them they're just big dogs) and others just glance at them nervously, before deciding to mind their own business.

They go to a park so the wolves can have fun for a while and Newt grins happily before lying down on the grass, feeling glad to have chosen to go with Gellert.

Theseus seems to think he is fragile, that he can't possibly take care of himself unless he follows the rules his brother has established; for some reason Theseus is constantly thinking that someone is going to hurt Newt.

The only thing that's worrying Newt at the moment is Gellert's behavior; so far he's been patient and sweet with him, but he seems tense sometimes and even though he tries to hide it from Newt, the zoologist notices the nervous way in which he looks around them.

It's like he's waiting for something to happen.

"Are you okay?" Newt rolls over when Gellert lies down next to him and looks at him in the eye.

"Of course I am, Liebling," the man smiles and kisses him on the lips, distracting Newt for a couple of minutes.

"Are you sure? It's just... you look tense," Newt points out, pulling away, trying not to smile at the way Gellert whines and chases after his lips.

"I just... don't want anything to happen to you," Gellert admits. "You see... I saw–my job wasn't that peaceful... Perhaps one day I'll talk to you about it."

Newt is curious of course, but he doesn't want to pressure him so he just nods and moves closer to him, smiling when he feels his arms around his waist.

"It's okay," he assures him.

Gellert presses a soft kiss on his cheek before staring at Newt again, he takes a deep breath and it's the first time Newt feels like he's going to tell him the truth or at least whatever it is that seems to be haunting him.

"I don't know how you'll react when I tell you," he mumbles, looking vulnerable and afraid.

"My feelings for you won't change," Newt whispers back, although it only makes him feel more curious and worried about him.

"I hope you are right, love. Because I don't want to live without you," Gellert says, before kissing Newt again.

He doesn't mention nothing more about it, but it's alright with Newt. He can wait.

***

By the end of the day, Newt is absolutely tired, but incredibly content and he even beams when Gellert offers to go buy some food for the both of them.

He gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the house.

And minutes later, almost like he knows, Theseus calls him. Newt picks up because he knows his brother will freak out if he doesn't.

He's ready to assure Theseus everything's fine; it has to be one of his routine calls he does every now and then just to check up on him.

" _Give me your location_ ," Newt can tell Theseus is fuming at the other side. For a moment he feels guilty, but then remembers there's a reason why he didn't tell his brother.

"Are you spying on me?" For the first time in a while the zoologist feels irritated. Theseus had promised–

" _Why didn't you tell me?_ "

"Because you wouldn't have let me go with him," Newt admits and takes a deep breath before adding. "I like him, 'Seus. I want to spend time with him."

" _Little one, you can't trust him. He's dangerous, I can feel_ –"

"I'll be back in a couple of days and I promise I'll talk to you then," Newt cuts him off, surprising even himself. "I'll call you."

And he hangs up. It feels weird and Newt is not entirely sure if he did the right thing, but he also doesn't like when Theseus treats him like he knows what is better for him.

Newt needs to make his own decisions.

***

There's a knock on the door, for a moment Newt thinks Gellert has forgotten his keys untill Patrick starts growling at the entrance; Linda, George and Susan move right behind him, baring their teeth.

"It's okay," Newt assures them, walking towards the door; Patrick stops growling but the zoologist knows he's still ready to attack if something happens.

He opens the door just a little; at the other side there's a woman with brownish hair that smiles at him.

"Excuse me, pretty. Can I talk to your boss? It's really important," she mumbles, although a bit nervous.

"Boss?" Newt blinks, thinking that she's probably lost; he opens the door a bit more.

Susan snarls.

"Oh! Those are lovely dogs," she whispers, although by the way she frowns when she says it, it makes it difficult for Newt to believe the compliment. "I bet they're perfect to make negotiations, huh? So where is he?"

"I'm sorry, but I think you're mistaken, I–"

"One of my men saw Grindelwald," she cuts him off, getting irritated.

"Oh! Yes, he's staying here. But he's not my boss," Newt smiles, feeling more relaxed. "Are you his friend?"

The woman blinks at him in confusion.

"You don't work for him? Then what..." She stops the moment she notices the blush spreading all over Newt's face. "Oh!"

Something's wrong, Newt can feel it when she starts smirking.

He tries to close the door, but she pulls out a gun and points it at his head.

"You better control your dogs or I'll kill them all," she warns when she hears the growls.

Newt nods and watches as three men approach from the shadows. He hopes Gellert is safe.

"It seems we found the Queen," she grins from ear to ear. "Boss will be very pleased."


	10. Chapter 10

Gellert hears the wolves before opening the door and knows something's wrong; they're whining desperately which prompts him to kick the door open and take out the gun he always carries with him.

Patrick and Linda are scratching the floor furiously while George and Susan are trying to get rid of the collars around their necks.

"Newton? Liebling?" He calls out even though he knows his precious darling is not there anymore.

The wolves recognize him and he's able to get rid of the collars and the rope that keeps them from moving and notices they're alright.

Gellert keeps walking around the place, gun firmly in his hand as he analyzes the situation, it takes him all of his strength not to run out of there and start looking for Newton. Panicking won't help him at the moment; he has become vulnerable since he met Newton and he feels like he's about to crumble.

He can't live without him. He can't and he refuses to do so.

Gellert takes a deep breath and notices there's nothing out of place; there's no sign of struggle, which means they had guns with them, he can even bet Newton himself tied his own wolves.

For the first time he wishes the cops, CIA or MI6 were the ones responsible for this; they would figure it out Newton is innocent and he'd be safe, perhaps even with the help of his overprotective brother.

But he knows they're not; no one knew he was there (at least that's what he thought). He knows Rosier is loyal, she couldn't have said anything, which only leaves Krüger's men.

He had sent that woman and her companions the other day to "offer their help" but Gellert knew there was something else behind it.

They didn't go that far when Gellert asked them to leave, they must've kept an eye on him and found out he was in France. And he's sure they know Newton is important to him otherwise they wouldn't have taken him.

Newton is safe at the moment; they need him to control Gellert, Krüger has wanted his territory to make his own business for years, but has never been able to get rid of Gellert's men.

He'll try to negotiate, to threaten Gellert... He'll use Newton, but he needs him alive for that.

Now, Gellert is going to accept whatever deal Krüger wants to make, he doesn't care at the moment (although he also needs a plan to get his darling out of there in case something happens) and when Newton is safe, when Gellert makes sure no one else can touch him, he'll kill them all. He'll kill every single person that laid a hand on him.

They will pay.

With that in mind, the first thing he does is to call Rosier; he knows Krüger's men will try to contact him soon.

"They have him," Gellert thinks he's fine, but the words come out of his mouth in a broken whisper and he closes his other hand into a fist; he can't lose control now, his Newton needs him.

"I'm on my way," she mumbles back. "I'll talk to the others."

"I want them dead," he growls, trying to put himself together.

There's a pause before she speaks again.

"You know this means he'll find out about you, right? Perhaps he already knows."

"I'll deal with that later," he whispers, voice rough before hanging up.

He needs to focus on saving him first; he'll deal with the possibility of Newton hating him later.

And yet his heart breaks a little at the mere thought.

***

"Are you helping him hide, beautiful?" The woman touches him on the cheek and Newt flinches when he feels her fingers, it's difficult to hold himself from gasping or flinching when he's been blindfolded and he has no idea what's going on.

He knows he's in a car and that his wolves and Gellert are safe, which is honestly more than he could ask for.

Newt still doesn't know what they want from him.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about," he mumbles after he feels her fingers on the back of his neck.

"Grindelwald... you know he's hiding," she says and there's something amused in her tone that makes Newt nervous.

"Why would he be hiding?"

One of the men laugh and the other one starts growling that he's obviously lying, but finally the woman decides to shut them all up.

"I don't think he is," she whispers next to him, Newt moves away and is a little bit relieved when she doesn't try to stop him. She chuckles. "He really looks like he has no idea."

The zoologist is curious, but he's too nervous to ask anything else. He's not sure Gellert would be able to find him, unless they tell him... He wishes he had told his brother where he was.

"Your boyfriend has been lying to you, beautiful."

Newt decides to keep quiet. Perhaps there's a chance to escape or to let Theseus know his location.

"He's a criminal. He's been hiding all this time in that pathetic village of yours because the German police has been looking for him."

Of course... That catches his attention.

She's lying; he's not sure why, but she has to be lying. Gellert is not like that.

"There's blood in his hands, boy. So much blood," she chuckles when Newt flinches again, the only difference is that now he's trying to distance himself from her horrible words. "My boss has never had a good relationship with him you see... Grindelwald has killed many of our men. But if he really likes you, well... then we'll have a chance for him to give us what we want."

Newt doesn't argue, but he refuses to believe, even though his heart has started to beat painfully inside his chest.

"Do you think he likes you enough?" Newt shivers when he hears the voice a few inches away from his ear. "Do you think he'll come to save you? Or he'll let you die? He has had other pets before, but he gets tired of them quickly."

A single tear falls down from one of his eyes and Newt tries not to think about what she's saying... But it's difficult, because part of him has started to doubt; all the times Gellert has refused to talk about his past come to Newt's mind. The way he's constantly looking over his shoulder with fear, the way he reacted when Vinda came to the village for the first time.

And those people... What do they want from him? Is she telling the truth?

Newt can't stop himself from shaking again, a sob escapes from his lips then, but it's muffled by the sound of her laughter.

***

When Vinda walks in the house, her boss is talking to the man responsible for Newt's kidnapping. She knows just by the way Grindelwald's expression turns into something feral, full of hatred. At that moment she has the certainty that someone is going to die.

"I'll go. I'll do whatever you want, but I need to talk to him, I need to hear his voice," Grindelwald says and Vinda can see how hard is for him not to beg.

She realizes they decided to listen to him when Grindelwald suddenly softens, it's so obvious how much he loves Newt she's glad their enemies are not seeing that. She's not sure if they truly know how important the zoologist is to him.

"It's alright, Newton. They're fine," he smiles fondly even though he can't see him. "I'm coming for you... Everything's going to be fine."

And then there's a flash of pain that almost covers his eyes with a shadow, it's like her boss is being tortured and Vinda wonders if someone is hurting Newt.

But she realizes quickly that's not the case, it's that beautiful man the one that's causing Grindelwald pain with his innocence.

Love can make someone happy, but it also can make them suffer as well.

"Liebling... Please, don't–We'll talk about this later... alright? I'll tell you everything," it's like every word is hurting Grindelwald. "I'm... sorry, love."

There's still pain in his mismatched eyes when he hangs up and turns around to look at her, but tries to hide it almost immediately.

"The others?"

"They'll be here," she says. "Although you know that after this the police will probably find out where you are and you'll have to hide again."

Grindelwald nods, although he doesn't seem to care about that; he goes to the room behind them while the wolves keep whining and pacing around.

He comes back with a few weapons and the ghost of his loneliness on his face.

"Perhaps you could retire after this," she tells him and can't believe she just said that.

"Maybe."

"He'll forgive you," Vinda mumbles, finally addressing the real problem; of course Grindelwald is focused on getting Newt back, but she knows Newt not talking to him again is also haunting him.

"Maybe," he says again, but this his voice breaks a little.


	11. Chapter 11

When they were just kids, Theseus lost his brother in the woods for an hour; he told his parents who turned into a complete mess, they were about to call the police when Theseus ran back into the forest, despite of his parents orders and didn’t come back until he had Newt’s hand in his again.

Turns out he had followed a deer to the river because he was really curious about it.

They both were punished when they came back to their house, but Theseus didn’t care that much about anything else, he was so happy he had managed to find his little brother.

Now is completely different; Newt is an adult who has decided to go out with another man and even though Theseus should be relieved his little one is okay, he can’t; he feels the same kind of anguish he felt that day.

He calls him again, but Newt doesn’t answer. Theseus is almost begging to everyone, any kind of God that’s listening, that his brother is just angry with him. But he can’t shake off the bad feeling he has.

“Please, tell me you have something new, Mason,” Theseus mumbles through the phone; he sounds a little bit desperate at this point.

“Some people saw a woman talking with Gellert; it’s a small town and they always notice foreigners. Then some of his neighbors assure they saw a group of people (they were a few men and some say they saw a woman two) wandering around,” she explains, confused and curious at the same time. Theseus starts thinking he should’ve told her more about the situation, but now it’s not the time to correct that.

Besides, he doesn’t want anyone else to know where Newt’s living.

“Do you think they know him?” He mumbles and then curses himself because it’s obvious. “Of course they do, it’d be such a weird coincidence that so many people from other countries are gathering in that particular town just a few months after he arrives…”

“Some swear they heard the first woman say a couple of words in French,” Mason adds, still worried. Or at least that’s how she sounds at the moment.

“I need to know where they are,” Theseus insists, trying not to let his concern get the best of him.

“I’ll try to find more about it, Sir,” Mason whispers. “I’ll call you later.”

Theseus sighs and calls Newt again.

***

Newt is not sure exactly where he is, but at least he knows he’s inside a house now; the woman has removed the blindfold from his eyes and the zoologist can see he’s in some sort of basement.

He doesn’t have his phone with him anymore and wonders if the last time he heard it ringing was Theseus trying to talk to him again.

Of course he knows he couldn’t have known what would happen, but he still regrets he didn’t tell him where he was.

After what he said, Newt is not if Theseus will look for him or not.

Tired, he sits on the floor, hands on his back and glad at least the woman is gone. Newt tries not to remember what she said or when someone went downstairs just to hand him his phone and allow him to speak with Gellert for a moment.

When he asked, Gellert didn’t deny it; Newt was waiting to feel at least a little bit better after hearing his boyfriend saying that was a lie. Instead, Gellert had gotten flustered and almost begged him to let him explain once they were back home.

“Why?” He mumbles to himself, feeling his heart breaking again as the footsteps get closer. Newt has to look up and he only has the time to gasp when a man pulls him upstairs.

“Boss wants to see you up close, doll,” the man huffs, finally walking him into the living room where a tall man with black hair and the woman from earlier are sitting.

“I can see why he’s so obsessed with you,” the man smirks, prompting Newt to give a step closer. Someone pushes him forward. “I believe I haven’t introduced myself yet, pretty. I’m Anton Krüger. It’s a pleasure. Please, sit next to me.”

Newt does as he’s told even though he doesn’t want to.

“Grindelwald was desperate,” Krüger mentions, amused. “We finally have a chance to take most of his territory.”

“I believe we do, Sir,” the woman grins and even though Newt’s not entirely sure what they’re talking about, he feels like he doesn’t want to know.

Krüger caresses Newt’s hair and the zoologist fights the need to move out of the way; he knows those people are dangerous and even if they claim they need him, he knows they’ll kill him if he pisses them off.

“So… you didn’t know about him, about what he does, did you?” He mumbles, lips quirking upwards as the redhead shakes his head. “Some of my men didn’t believe you at first, but I know you’re telling the truth… You look so devastated.”

Newt looks away, he wants him to stop, to not say anything else, but he knows he’ll tell him anyway.

“I guess he likes your innocence too,” Krüger comments. “Do you think he was going to tell you?”

Gellert had mentioned a couple of times he wanted to talk with him and even though Newt knew it was important, he had never imagined something like that.

Although he’s still not sure. What if he didn’t actually care because he was waiting to get tired of him? He promised he’d come for him on the phone… But what if he doesn’t?

“I don’t know,” he mumbles, staring at his lap, trying not to tear up.

***

“I’m gonna kill him,” Grindelwald growls again, pacing around the room.

Underneath that rage, Vinda can see the pain, the desperation and the fear in his actions… the panic in his mismatched eyes.

Love has left him completely vulnerable. Although, Vinda is not sure that is a bad thing, at least not that bad.

His men arrive later, by this point Grindelwald is about to explode, but he tries to control himself. He needs to ignore his emotions for the plan to work.

The men are excited to see him again, it’s been a while since they haven’t done anything “fun” and the perspective of killing their rivals is too good to be true.

“I need him alive,” he sends them all a picture of Newt, Vinda is sure he has dozens of them. “If you find him first, you bring him to me, then you can do whatever you want.”

Grindelwald turns to the man in the far corner, he’s a little bit nervous, but Vinda knows he hasn’t regretted his decision.

He used to work for Krüger at some point and he knows a lot about the crime lord.

“Are you sure he took him to that house?” Grindelwald demands and the man nods.

“You better be right.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblr for more fics: https://silverynight.tumblr.com/


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